Silverpoint Drawing: The Forgotten Art
.
Silverpoint drawing dates from the 14th century throughout the 16th and the Renaissance era. It became the medium of choice, and a well established technique, before the availability of graphite, conte crayton, and natural chalks. Any metal in wire form can be used to make drawings: copper, gold, platinum, bronze, or silver. Silverpoint is, in fact, a specific type of metalpoint drawing, and it was certainly the most popular and widely used. It produces the most delicate of lines of all the metals. Many "Old Masters" worked in silverpoint. Raphael used silverpoint in his studies, as did Holbein, Rembrandt and Rubens. Leonardo da Vinci used silverpoint extensively and there are numerous drawings of his existence.
The technique of metalpoint involves dragging a stylus of metal across a substrate prepared with a slightly abrasive surface coating, or ground. As the metal is drawn along the surface, tiny particles of metal are left behind, creating a mark. Although it is quite difficult to use, metalpoint produces a particularly fine and delicate mark, making it a desirable tool or the highly skilled draftsman.
The characterisitcs of silverpoint are subtlety of tone in the lighter end of the tonal scale with single-hatch drawing resulting in an extremely uniform, sensuous surface. It is the most unforgiving of mediums with no erasures or 'do overs'. Depth of tone and shaded areas are created painstakingly with numerous, fine lines laid on top of one another. The initial marks of silverpint appear grey as other metalpoints, but silberpoint lines, when exposed to air, oxidize and tarnish to a warm brown tone. The oxidation becomes perceptible over a period of several months or years depending on exposure.
Although silverpoint is no longer a well-known drawing medium, a small contingent of artists has continued to use it to create increddibly delicate and ethereal images. 20th century metalpoint artists include Otto Dix, Paul Cadmus, and Pablo Picasso. These Modern artists, who had a wide range of drawing media to choose from, deliberately chose metalpoint for the fine detail and precision that is unattainable though other media.
Silverpont is an intriguing, though often forgotten, art form that holds an important place in the history of art. Its unique aesthetic qualities and challenging technical requirements make it a highly respected and cherished drawing medium. The medium remains exacting yet very rewarding as somehow, as an artist, one feels "connected" to the work of centuries ago.
|
